Teachers now must take quiz before giving the PSSA

State creates costly new layer of red tape that confuses educators.

The new training program has befuddled local educators who -- apparently… (HARRY FISHER, MORNING CALL…)

March 11, 2013|By Adam Clark, Of The Morning Call

When Jolene Vitalos correctly answered seven of 10 questions at the end of the new Pennsylvania System of School Assessment training module for teachers, she got a message with a red "X."

YOU DID NOT PASS THE FINAL TEST

"To me, that means 'Jolene, you're a failure,'" said Vitalos, president of Bethlehem Area School District's teachers union. "I guess I have to go back and redo it."

Bethlehem, like several other local school districts, has been operating under the belief that teachers must retake the online quiz until they correctly answer eight of 10 questions.

The districts claim the state Department of Education said teachers won't be able to administer the PSSA reading and math tests this spring unless they pass the training test. But the department says while teachers have to view an online video presentation by April 5, they don't have to pass the subsequent quiz.

"At a minimum, there is mass confusion," said Jack Silva, Bethlehem's assistant superintendent for education.

The $250,000 training module, introduced on Feb. 4, has befuddled local teachers and administrators who — apparently incorrectly — think teachers have to pass a test in order to administer a test.

"You have to at least get an eight out of 10," said James Deegan, Saucon Valley's K-12 supervisor of assessment and instruction. "If you don't get an eight out of 10, you have to go back."

Said Steve Furst, Easton Area's director of teaching and learning: "You take it until you pass it. If you take it one time and don't pass it, guess what? You take it again."

And David Wright, Wilson Area's director of curriculum and instruction, said, "I couldn't imagine that they would have you go through a webinar and take a test without the expectation that everybody must complete it. Why would everybody spend the 45 minutes doing that?"

The training has some educators wondering why the state would add a bureaucratic layer to a process tangled in red tape. It was meant to develop a more consistent training message, the department said.

Pennsylvania previously trained district assessment coordinators at regional training sessions. Those coordinators would then return to their districts to train each school's coordinators, who then trained teachers or other test administrators.

During a probe into PSSA cheating, the department found inconsistencies in what test administrators were told at training sessions, spokesperson Tim Eller said.

"The training provided in one district could vary greatly from the training in another district," Eller said. "By providing this online module, every test administrator in the state hears the same message so that consistent administration is followed."

At the end of the module, which includes a video and several practice questions, there's a final assessment with 10 questions. If eight questions are answered correctly, the teacher can print a certificate showing the training is complete.

The Education Department thinks it clearly communicated that teachers don't have to pass the assessment, Eller said. In a webinar posted online for district assessment coordinators, it was stated explicitly.

"We wouldn't tell you that you have to preclude someone from administering the test if they ultimately don't pass it," the department's Kerry Helm said in the webinar.

But Helm also told districts that completing the training is mandatory and state monitors will ask for confirmation that test administrators finished it.

Bethlehem Area officials said they were under the impression the only way teachers could prove they had completed the training was to show a certificate, which they can't earn unless they get 80 percent of the questions right. Easton's teachers were told to take the assessment until they pass it, print out the certificate and turn it in to administrators, who would keep it on file for three years.

But Eller said the certificate is "simply a reward" for teachers who paid attention during the training. If state monitors ask for proof on test day, districts can access a list online of all teachers who completed the training, regardless of whether they passed or failed, the department said.

Silva said the miscommunication has cost Bethlehem's staff valuable time.

The site has experienced technical problems, forcing some teachers to start over. The help line is staffed by three people only available during business hours, which overlaps with most of the teaching day. Some teachers have waited days for a return call, Vitalos said.

Though the test information is basic — and almost insulting, Vitalos said — some of the questions are confusingly constructed, according to administrators.

"They put them in a negative fashion so you have to find the answer that's wrong, or two out of three are right but you're not quite sure about the third one," Wright said.